Free Pretrial Order - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:98-cv-00533-CFL

Document 111

Filed 12/01/2006

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS No. 98-533T and consolidated cases (Filed: December 1, 2006) ____________________________________ ) FENTON GINGERICH, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) ) UNITED STATES, ) ) Defendant. ) ____________________________________)

FINAL PRE-TRIAL ORDER Pursuant to Rule 16(e) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims, this Final Pre-Trial Order recites the actions taken during the Pre-Trial Conference conducted in this case on December 1, 2006, and provides a framework for post-trial briefing and argument. 1. Trial is scheduled for December 11-13, 2006, in Courtroom 10B of the Bob Casey United States Courthouse, located at 515 Rusk Avenue, Houston, Texas. Trial will begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at approximately 5:30 p.m. each business day. The trial may extend beyond 5:30 p.m. on December 11, 12, and 13, if necessary. Opening statements will be made on December 11, 2006. Plaintiffs and the government each shall have 5 minutes for this purpose. The parties have indicated that they are not now aware of any issues related to the authenticity of any proposed trial exhibits. If a witness listed in either party's witness list is necessary to support or negate the admissibility of a document to which an objection has been made, any party may call or recall that witness during its case in chief to testify concerning the factual foundation relating to the admissibility of that document. The parties shall provide to the court at the outset of the trial two copies of a list containing the following three columns: (1) the identifying number for each exhibit, (2) a blank space for the court to enter the name of the witness through whom the exhibit is sought to be admitted, and (3) a blank space for the court to

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Case 1:98-cv-00533-CFL

Document 111

Filed 12/01/2006

Page 2 of 2

enter the disposition of any request to admit that exhibit. 6. During trial, the original "stickered" version of exhibits shall be provided to the witnesses, and thereafter exhibits admitted into evidence shall be maintained by the reporter as part of the official record of the trial. The court shall be provided with two copies of each exhibit proffered to a witness at trial, for use at trial by the court and clerk during the examination of the pertinent witnesses and thereafter. To constitute part of the factual record, each exhibit must be formally moved into evidence and admitted into evidence. Counsel shall not engage in substantive discussions with a witness while any portion of that witness's examination is pending. Counsel should stand when addressing the court, and in particular, when raising objections or seeking to be heard during testimony. The parties have requested exclusion of witnesses pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 615, and such request is GRANTED, except that each party may designate a representative to be present throughout the trial. Each party shall provide copies of its demonstrative exhibits to opposing counsel in advance. A demonstrative exhibit does not include copies of pages or text from exhibits or proposed exhibits, copies of trial transcripts, bullet point argument summaries, or items generated on the stand. Each party shall file and serve proposed factual recitations (not to exceed 20 pages) on or before January 25, 2007, and shall serve responsive briefs on the factual points (not to exceed 10 pages) on or before February 8, 2007. Closing argument is scheduled for February 28, 2007, commencing at 10 a.m. EST. The closing argument will take place by telephonic means. The court will initiate the call.

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It is so ORDERED.

s/ Charles F. Lettow Judge

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